Making soap

On Sunday we made glycerin soap - it was a lot of fun, and we'll probably make more once we're out.

I put pictures on Facebook ... so instead of posting them here too, visit this link to see the pictures.  Supposedly anyone can see the pics, even if you're not on facebook.  Let me know if that's not so.

Our Valentine's Day

Even though I've titled this post "valentine's day", we didn't do a whole lot around the holiday.  We gave each of the kids some chocolate and told them how much we love them ... but that's an every day occurrence around here :-)

Anyway, Yuta was working, so the kids and I played at home all day.  We were invited to a friends' house, but we declined.   When Yuta got home from work around 7:30 I ran out to the store to get some errands done so that I could have all day Sunday to hang out at the house and not rush around.

A while back we picked up Doodle Tops at the thrift store - tops that are pens and make spirals and such.  We bring them out every few weeks - this weekend Taisim had fun with them, along with the cat.  I didn't get a good photo with Cooper, but he loved batting them around the table.

While we were doing this, Taipan had been playing Lord of the Rings on the XBox, and right about the time Taisim & I finished up, Taipan was ready for a battle.  This picture is pre-battle smiles!

I was trying to get a shot of Taipan battling, and Taisim wanted to get in the picture and smile, so here she is smiling, and Taipan is behind her with either a sword or a staff (some of our pool noodles are staffs now).  And the next one is Taipan being an archer .... we use our nerf guns as bows.

Mid-battle Taisim decided to play with Barbies, and then she wanted to be a pricess with her tiara, wand and shoes:

Princess Taisim hiding from her attacker, and Taipan poised to attack:

Taisim is 3

Our original plan for Taisim's birthday was to go to Chuck E Cheese with some friends, however we ended up not going because Taipan was sick (he's better now).  Fortunately it didn't damper anyone's spirits, and we had a great day.

In the late morning we did gifts, and then Yuta and Taisim went to pick up the cake.  She had requested a princess cake, and one with a  castle if possible.  I looked up some ideas for how to do a castle cake on my own, but the thought of it was too daunting.  Instead we went to the grocery store, and she picked a princess cake from the book.  She was so happy to have that cake, and we now have three new princesses to add to our collection.  And you'll see in the pictures below that Taisim graciously allowed Taipan to help her blow the candles.

Later in the afternoon Ama and Akon stopped by with birthday wishes.  Taisim and Taipan were happy to see them, though right around that time Taisim fell asleep, so her time with them was pretty short.

I love love love my kids' birthdays.  I appreciate and enjoy them every day, but I like having a whole day where it's foremost in my mind how important their presence is in my life.

On to the pictures:

Taisim's Birth Day (2/10/2006)

Taisim's third birthday is tomorrow, and one of my favorite things to do around the kids' birthdays is to go back and look at pictures from the day they were born.  Since I don't have these on a blog anywhere, I thought I'd put them here now.  

This is a picture taken during the last month of my pregnancy.  I was good at being pregnant (meaning I wasn't uncomfortable or waiting for it to end or not liking the way I looked) - even though I was sick sick sick during the first five months of my pregnancy with Taisim, it's not even close to being one of the first things I remember.  I remember mostly feeling good, and a little bit apprehensive about how a second child would affect us.

For those that don't know, Taisim was born at home.  Our original plan was to go to a birth center, but about two months before she was born I changed my mind.  I wasn't in love with the midwives at the birth center, and was starting to wonder why we should bother driving all the way there when we could just have her at home, so we found a wonderful midwife and had she and our doula at the birth.  

My first contraction was right around 4:30pm, and she was born at 8:49pm ... up until the first contraction I hadn't expected that day would be the day that she was born.

Here's Yuta holding her for the first time, and our first picture with her together (well, I should say the first posed picture):

Yuta and our midwife weighing her (8lbs 10oz I think ... maybe 11oz):

The next day, cleaned up a bit:

Taipan with his new baby sister - he was with my sister while she was born, and she brought him home around midnight.  He fell asleep on his way home, and went right to bed, but was glad to meet her the next day.  This picture was when she was 3 days old:

That's my trip down memory lane today.  She has brought such joy to all of our lives - her smiles, her kisses, her stories and imagination light up my life every day.  And, to be honest, I wasn't sure if she would be a good or bad thing for Taipan ... I was nervous that he wouldn't get enough attention once she was born, but I can't imagine him not having her in his life.  They enjoy each other so much, and she brings out a side of him that I don't know that we would've seen otherwise.